Frances made a cute list of things she wanted to do before Christmas during Christmas vacation — number five was my favourite: Capture an elf. She said she might believe in Santa if she could capture an elf.

The Christmas season brings recitals (such as those today), and recitals provide a lot of free time in which Frances may formulate questions.

In the past, she has asked: “Do you have to clap if you don’t like the performance?” and “Mum? Mum? Mum?! Why do I have to clap if the performance wasn’t good?”

Today, at recital number one:

When she asked if she could get her coat from across the room, I thought she knew to wait for the right time. My mistake. She thought it meant to take the fastest route to the other side of the room even if it meant nearly knocking over the person introducing a piece of music.

At recital number two:

For some reason, the subject of taxidermy occurred to her, and she asked, loudly, “If our cat dies, can we get her stuffed?”

I have to admit, I laughed in spite of myself at the latter question. (But, after the first recital, I felt so bad for not remembering to tell her to wait until there was a quiet moment.)